Shakeup at city hall: Lexington council elects committee chairs. Some are familiar faces.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council elected new chairs to several council committees on Tuesday.
Many are familiar faces.
Councilwoman Jennifer Reynolds was re-elected to serve as chairwoman of the Social Services and Public Safety Committee. The committee oversees policies regarding police, fire, corrections and programs such as affordable housing and homelessness. Reynolds was first elected chair of the committee in 2023.
Councilwoman Whitney Elliott Baxter will serve as vice-chair. Baxter also served as vice chair over the past two years. Vice chairs can run meetings if the chair cannot attend, and they can help with other administrative duties including helping plan and coordinate meetings.
Chairs help set the agendas for the council committee meetings. Chairs also pick their own vice chairs.
Councilwoman Denise Gray challenged Reynolds for the chair of the committee, but the committee members ultimately voted unanimously to elect Reynolds.
No other chairmanships were challenged Tuesday.
Councilwoman Liz Sheehan, who previously served as chairwoman of the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee, was unanimously elected as chairwoman of the General Services and Planning Committee.
That committee tackles some of the council’s most daunting and thorny policy issues, including finishing plans for the new 2,800-acre expansion area, changes to street designs as well as other land use policies.
The chair position was open after former chairman Preston Worley opted not to run for re-election in 2024.
Councilwoman Shayla Lynch will serve as co-chair of the committee.
Councilwoman Hannah LeGris was unanimously elected chair of the Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee. That committee oversees a host of important city services including the city’s more than $590 million Environmental Protection Agency consent decree projects to improve city sanitary systems, trash and recycling and paving.
LeGris, who was elected in 2020, is a new committee chair.
Councilman David Sevigny will serve as co-chair of the committee.
The council’s Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee, which oversees the budget and economic development incentives, will meet Jan. 21. A chair will be elected at that meeting as well.
The council elects committee chairs every two years after a new council is sworn in. The 10 council district members were elected in November 2024. The three at-large members Vice Mayor Dan Wu, James Brown and Chuck Ellinger II were elected in 2022 and serve four-year terms.
This story was originally published January 15, 2025 at 8:51 AM.
